Investigation of Power Supply Methods for

Intelligent LED Luminary

Alexander Suzdalenko*, Ilya Galkin
*

RTU Institute of Industrial Electronics and Electrical Engineering, Riga, Latvia, Aleksandrs.Suzdalenko@rtu.lv

RTU Institute of Industrial Electronics and Electrical Engineering Riga, Latvia, gia@avene.eef.rtu.lv

Abstract In the context of Intelligent Lighting System

various lighting devices and technologies are compared. For
the most technically beneficiary and rapidly developing
LED luminaries control and power supply methods are
analyzed and experimentally tested. The optimal one is
chosen. Outlines of the further research are defined.
Keywords Smart Power, Self-sensing control, Adaptive
control, Regulation.

I. INTRODUCTION
Generally the concept of Smart Grid means
enhancement of common electric grid with monitoring,
analysis, control and communication capabilities in order
to improve reliability, maximize throughput, increase
energy efficiency, provide consumer participation in the
energy distribution as well as allow diverse generation and
storage options[7].
The devices of Smart Grid tend to be efficient in energy
consumption field as well as smart enough to be able to
decide whether the device is working usefully or not. A
good example of where the Smart Grid concept should be
introduced is an indoor and outdoor lighting. The lighting
in municipal as well as in other buildings is often switched
on almost all day long in the corridors and staircase, in
spite of the need for illumination. The road lighting also is
switched on constantly during the night time without any
correction depending on traffic density and weather
conditions. If the mentioned parameters were monitored
and lighting levels were adjusted then the overall
consumption of the lighting system could be reduced.
The main goal of the given work is to identify the
approaches to the development the energy effective
automatically reconfigurable energy systems for the
effective control of lighting. This includes elaboration and
analysis of power converters for LED luminaries with
dimming possibility, analysis of the different LED
arrangement in the luminary to achieve uniform light
output.
II. LIGHTING IN MODERN SOCIETY
The world electricity consumption for lighting in 2005
of 3418 TWh represents 19% of the world's total
electricity consumption of 17982 TWh. Meaningful part
of consumed electrical energy is spent for street lighting
(for example, in Norway 3% of all electricity demand). At
the same time for an average commercial building the
lighting takes about 30-40% of its electricity bill [2][3]. It
is seen that the problem of energy efficiency in lighting is
important and topical.

The development of energy effective Street Lighting

system is closely related to the three main goals of such
systems: 1) providing safety for all type traffic users on
road; 2) providing visibility of pedestrians and 3)
providing safety for pedestrians. Traffic route lighting is
designed for the worst case scenario, i.e. the maximum
traffic density on the road. However, many traffic routes
have high peak hour traffic for a very short period with
substantially lower traffic flows for the remainder of the
lighting cycle. In such cases a close examination of the
traffic flow patterns and reasonable reduction of lighting
at this time may lead to the significant savings in energy
use and cost.
One way to get some step closer to preserve the nature
is to decrease electrical energy consumption produced by
fossil fuels and improve the efficiency of electrical
technologies. Since the lighting is widely used all over the
world it is needed to improve the efficiency of lighting
sources. The electricity consumption in Europe for street
lighting alone is estimated to be more than 40 TWh
annually. Some known examples [6] shows annual saving
of about 30-50% is attainable by modernizing the
luminaries and utilizing intelligent lighting technology.
Energy saving initiatives can be divided into the
following groups:
Replacing inefficient lamps some lamps, such as
incandescent, halogen or high pressure mercury lamps
can be converted to a more efficient model such as
high pressure sodium, metal halide, or LED;
Improvement of a luminary characteristic some
luminaries may have more efficient light reflectors to
direct light more precisely;
Replacing of a magnetic ballast new generation
ballast can offer greater efficiencies and opportunity
for dimming lights;
Introduce a distance management for lighting control
(dimming); this allows lighting to respond to
individual conditions;
Better use of existing infrastructure some lighting
applications need to be improved by adjusting color,
lighting class, hours of operation; or complete removal.
III. INTELLIGENT LIGHTING SYSTEM
The definition of intelligent lighting assumes a total
system with dimmable luminaries, advanced lighting
control solutions, communication systems and
administrative tools. The solution focuses on reducing
energy consumption and high functional standard. It also,
in most contexts, automatically declines the maintenance
costs for the operator in combination with increased safety
for the street user.

Introducing intelligent lighting means a more complex

control of the system. In contradiction to the well known
on/off technology, the intelligent street lighting requires
more sophisticated analysis of the input parameters. The
system should automatically react to external factors, such
as traffic density and the weather conditions. For example,
the level of lighting could be increased when there are a
lot of cars travelling on a specific stretch of road. It is also
possible to dim the lighting at night when fewer cars or
other road users are on the roads or if the surface is
covered with snow, but during rainy or fogged weather the
lighting level should be increased.
Also Intelligent System can count the burning hours so
that changes can be planned based on a statistical
approach. Warning notifications can also be generated
when the luminaries approach their end of life. The
system can automatically report lamp failures. This results
in eliminating the need to perform scouting activities to
control the lighting.
Intelligent lighting concept is especially attractive in
autonomous lighting systems because: 1) it reduces
electricity demand due to improved functionality (as
explained above); 2) additionally it helps to choose the
most suitable renewable energy source; 3) it allows
implementation and smart utilization of energy storages.
This new technology is highly energy-efficient and
therefore also cost-efficient because it provides light when
and where it is needed most of all.
IV. COMPARISON OF LIGHTIN SOURCES
The efficiency and performance of lamps has been
improved dramatically during the last 30 years.
Traditional gas discharge lamp control has become more
efficient with the move from magnetic ballasts to
electronic ballasts. At the same time the lamp technologies
has evolved from High Intensity Discharge (HID)
Mercury vapor to Sodium and metal halide. The current
market of artificial lighting technologies has been widen
by new technology LED (Light Emitting Diode), which
can be used to build very efficient and functional lighting
source. At the given time lighting efficiency of the LED
technology approaches 100lm/W. Therefore it could
replace some traditional lighting sources like
incandescent, fluorescent bulbs and in some applications
even HID lamps, because HID lamps always require a
reflector, which produces specific form of light beam for

uniform surface illumination. On the other hand it leads to

some optical losses and the real-life efficacy of the HID
lamp can be smaller than it is shown in specification. In
opposite to all other kinds of lamps LEDs have naturally
directed light output that saves lumen losses in reflector.
Since the dimmable luminary is one of the major
components of Intelligent Lighting system the various
types of lamps were studied for this feature (Table 1).
The table shows that some types cannot be used in
Intelligent Lighting system. Dimming of the HID lamps is
limited due to the shift of color, reduced color rendering
index (CRI) and increased flickering. One more drawback
is inadvertent lamp shutdown, after which the lamp needs
to be cooled down before reigniting (1-5 min), then needs
to be switched at rated wattage for a minimum of 15
minutes before the next dimming. In general, dimming
HID lamps much below 50 percent is not practically
applicable. At the same time LED technology has no
negative influence on dimming, even opposite, according
to working characteristics of LED their efficacy is higher
at reduced power. Beside that LED technology has other
unique properties, like these: low voltage power supply,
shock resistance, long life, instant starts-up and dimming
for up to 100%, which make them indispensable in certain
applications. Also this technology improves the color
quality that makes it perspective in study and use in
purpose of Intelligent Lighting.
V. COMPARISON LED LUMINARY DIMMING METHODS
LEDs themselves are low voltage semiconductor
elements (diodes) that are not directly compatible with
common AC networks. Therefore some converter is
always required to supply LED luminary.
If the luminary must provide some constant amount of
light its power supply must ensure the corresponding
constant current of the LEDs. This can be done with some
traditional equipment like voltage source and series
balancing resistor or current regulator (more efficient and
preferable solution).
Light dimming is only possible with more complex
power supply. Preliminary analysis revealed three basic
light control approaches: 1) regulation of value of LEDs
current; 2) pulse width modulation of the current; 3)
sectional powering of LEDs. Besides that it is possible to
combine the first two approaches with the third one.

TABLE I.
COMPARISON OF DIFFERENT LIGHT SOURCES [1][5]
Lamp
technology
Incand.

Efficacy (*)
[lm/W]
10-17

Life time
[hours]
1k

100

Available Dimming
Level [%]
100

CRI

Halogen

12-20

2k

100

100

FL

20-60

10-20k

80

10

MV

25-40

14-20k

80

50

MH

35-50

10-15k

60-90

50

HPS

55-65

24-32k

40

80

LED

65-75

50-100k

70-90

100

Dimming Influence
Positive: lifetime extending
Negative: lifetime shorten halogen cycle doesn't work
Neutral
Negative: Lifetime shorten;
Color shifting
Negative: Lifetime shorten;
Color shifting
Positive: Lifetime extending
Positive: Efficacy risen,
Lifetime extending

Startup
time
Instantly
Instantly
1-5sek
5-7min
2-5min
5-10min
Instantly

* Typical expected performance in real-life applications. Based on mean lumens, and including ballast/driver, thermal
equilibrium and typical fixture Coefficient of Utilization losses.

220VAC

DC bus 40V

a) configuration

b) laboratory example

Fig. 1. Current regulator for LED luminary with a buck chopper.

A. Regulation of current
The current stabilizer of the luminary includes a current
feedback with current sensor, error amplifier, PI or PID
regulator and power converter. However, it is difficult to
find an integrated current regulator while its discrete
implementation is bulky. That is why it has been decided
to adopt a voltage regulator to the given application.
Such voltage regulators are also designed as closed loop
systems, but they include a voltage feedback with voltage
divider as a sensor. In steady state mode the regulator
ensures 1.235V in its midpoint. The upper and lower parts
of such divider may be chosen arbitrary, but their ratio
defines the output voltage. If the voltage of the midpoint is
fixed the divider may be described as a branch with
constant current that is defined by 1.235V/RLOW (where
RLOW is the value of the lower resistor). Then, the upper
resistor may be even non-linear, for example, series of
LEDs its current will also be stabilized.
The proposed example is based on a classical buck
chopper (Fig. 1). Its preliminary simulation asks the
following choice of the applied elements: Lsw=220H,
Csw=1000F, VT1=IFRZ44N, VD1 SBL1060.
B. Pulse width modulation of current
This approach is based on the phenomenon of inertia of
the human eye. If a luminary is blinking fast enough then
such blinking is recognized as dimming. The depth of the
dimming depends on the duty cycle of the signal. There
are several possible realizations of this approach.
Direct PWM signal may be applied to the transistor
commutating DC voltage to the connected in series
LEDs and balancing resistor.
Inverted PWM signal may be applied to the transistor
short-circuiting the series connection of LEDs.
Direct PWM signal may be used as enable signal for the
current stabilizing IC [1].
For laboratory testing the first approach was used.
PWM signal was taken from a laboratory signal generator
and through a driver circuit applied to the transistor.
C. Commutation of groups
If the luminary contains few lighting devices they can
be controlled in groups thus providing several steps of
lighting. Utilization of the binary weighted groups gives
more levels of lighting with more constant step. Each
group of LEDs requires its own power supply that,
however, may be less complex (3 laboratory power
supplies were used in the experiments) [1].
In the given research 7 LEDs in three groups of 1, 2 and
4 diodes are used (Fig. 3-a and Fig. 3-b). Then there are 7
available levels of power and brightness (Fig. 3-c).

c) operation
Fig. 3. Grouping of lighting elements in the 70W 7 LED luminary.

VI. EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS

The mentioned approaches were tested with 70W LED
luminary that consists of 7 W724C0 LEDs (2.8A, 10W
~80% of which is released as heat), the corresponding
heatsink and connectors available for each binary
weighted group of LEDs. The experiments were made in
order to find the most energy saving and cost effective
solution, as well as to uncover the properties of dimming
methods and their efficiency.
Experimental data were firstly taken for group
switching method by measuring the illumination level for
all available LED combinations. After that the current
regulation and current PWM methods were tested. The
measuring points were chosen in correspondence with first
test by changing regulation parameter (current level for
current regulation and duty cycle for PWM approach).
Typical light distribution over the explored surface is
presented in Fig. 4. As it was expected the measured
brightness is maximal just under the luminary and drop
significantly (about 20% per 1m) across the distance. No
other significant light spots or shadows are found. In
whole this is typical lighting picture for luminary without
reflectors, diffusers or other light equalization means.
1.5

1.5

0.5

0.5

-0.5
-1

-0.5

0.5

-0.5
-1

a) group switching

-0.5

1.5

80

60

0.5

40

20

-0.5
-1

-0.5

0.5

b) current PWM

0.5

c) current regulation
Fig. 4. Illuminance at 3/7 of control parameter

TABLE II.
AVERAGE BRIGHTNESS [LX] AT DIFFERENT VALUES OF CONTROL
PARAMETER AT DIFFERENT POWER SUPPLIES

Illumination
[Lx]
Type

202

403

610

768

958

1166

Grouping
(LED count / 7)

0,14

0,29

0,43

0,57

0,71

0,86

PWM
(Duty cycle %)

0,12

0,26

0,39

0,51

0,65

0,82

Current control
(I/Imax)

0,09

0,20

0,32

0,43

0,57

0,75

TABLE III.
LED WORKING TEMPERATURES [C] AT DIFFERENT POWER SUPPLIES
Illumination
[Lx]
Type
Grouping
PWM
Current control
TABLE IV.

202

610

958

96
36
42

96
51
63

103
79
79

CONSUMED POWER [W] AT DIFFERENT POWER SUPPLIES

[Lx]
Type
Grouping

202

403

610

768

958

1166

1362

10.0

19.2

28.6

37.5

46.3

56.0

65.0

PWM

14.1

22.9

29.9

35.9

44.4

53.4

62.6

Current
control

5.1

11.5

18.8

25.8

35.0

47.0

63.0

The similar picture could be presented for the other

values of the regulation parameter. However, it is more
important to compare brightness at different control
approaches and at different levels of the corresponding
control parameter that is done in Table II. It is obvious
from this table that switching of groups and PWM
provides quite linear regulation (3.5% and 4%
respectively) while current regulation is highly non-linear
(10%). This phenomenon could be explained by nonlinear lighting characteristic of LED itself.
Another table (Table III) represents the operating
temperature of LED package. It shows that in PWM and
current control modes the temperature depends on
operation parameter, but in group switching mode
operating LED temperature is about 100C.The next
significant comparison is a comparison of the consumed
power (Table IV). From this table it is seen that current
regulation consumes less power for the same level of
control parameter. PWM approach is the most power
consuming. However, it must be noted that these data
depend a lot on the power calculation methodology and
other PWM methods may be more effective.
VII. CONCLUSIONS
So far the described experiments demonstrate the
effectiveness of the current control method. This
conclusion has two sides. The first one, the lower is
current the higher is efficacy of diodes [lm/W]. The
second lower current leads to the reduced operating
temperature of LEDs and, hence, to higher light output
(smaller losses). The performance of all control methods
is summarized in Fig.5.

Fig. 5. Efficiency of dimming control methods

All LEDs have the same drawback their lifetime

directly depends on the operating temperature. Therefore
the current control and PWM approaches are more
preferable also from this point of view.
Besides the dimming capabilities LED luminaries have
an advantageous control characteristic small reduction
of illumination corresponds to significant reduction of
consumed electrical energy (Table V).
TABLE V.
ENERGY SAVINGS BY DIMMING SON AND LED LUMINARIES[4]
Reduced
Illumination by
%
10
20
30
40
50

Energy Savings
(SON)
%
6
16
24
32
40

Energy Savings
(LED)
%
18
30
45
55
65

These data mean that the same dimming realized with

LEDs has more than 50% higher energy saving effect if to
compare with SON lamps.
The results of the conducted experiments confirm the
advisability of utilization of LED technology in Intelligent
Lighting Systems. They also allow recommending the
development of power converters and information support
for Lighting Systems with LEDs
REFERENCES
[1]

[2]

[3]
[4]

[5]

[6]
[7]

. . 500 .
.
, ,
, . : , 2008. 320.lpp.;
Lester R. Brown: Plan B 4.0: Mobilizing to Save Civilization
New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2009 - ISBN 978-0393-07103-0;
IEA (2006a) Lights Labors Lost. International Energy Agency,
OECD, Paris;
International Municipal Signal Association Adaptive
Roadway Lighting/ IMSA Journal 2006.g. 54. 58.lpp. http://www.imsasafety.org/journal/so06/18.pdf;
Dr. John W. Curran - 100000 hour lifetime and other LED
fairytales
/
LightFair
seminar

2008
http://www.ledtransformations.com/Lightfair_5-28-08.pdf;
Northern Ireland Assembly Energy Efficiency in Street
Lighting / Research paper 30/09 2009. 12 March;
National Institute of Standards and Technology SmartGrid site http://www.nist.gov/smartgrid/.